MakeUseOf

5 speaker placement mistakes ruining your sound

Brady Snyder — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:00:12 GMT

Audiophiles are always searching for better sound quality, but you don't need to upgrade your gear to enjoy a sharper listening experience. Optimizing the audio gear you already own is more important than discovering the products you're planning to buy next. Acoustics and speaker placement are crucial elements of any great listening room — and they can be the hardest to master. I made a handful of speaker placement mistakes while building a Dolby Atmos home theater in my living room, and you can learn from these five pitfalls.

Your Samsung phone keeps killing background apps too early — this tool raises the limit

Brandon Miniman — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 22:00:12 GMT

I'm always amazed by how many little tweaks you can make to older Android phones to make them a bit faster so they last longer, in an age where new phone prices are increasing because of the memory shortages caused by the build-out of AI data centers.

I disabled one registry value and my PC finally shut down without stalling

Shaheer Khan — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 21:00:12 GMT

One reason I hate shutting down my computer is that I have to restart all my workflow applications, reopen multiple browser tabs, and log in to my CMS the next time I boot my PC. That setup alone is bothersome and time-consuming.

I gave ChatGPT and Claude the same unethical requests, and they drew different lines

Shaheer Khan — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 20:00:13 GMT

Now and then, AI models like ChatGPT and Claude surprise me with their answers. Not in the conventional sense of being good or bad, but sometimes they're so unexpected that I fear we may be headed toward the plot of the 2004 film I, Robot.

I tested T-Mobile on my own phone for two weeks before switching, and it cost me nothing

Brady Snyder — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:30:13 GMT

The grass is always greener on the other side... or is it? When you're subscribed to an expensive unlimited 5G plan, you remember all the mass outages, coverage dead zones, and throttled speeds. It's easy to think that switching to another mobile carrier will solve your connectivity woes. The big three U.S. carriers — AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile — are always trying to poach each other's customers. They might even offer you a sweet deal and pay off your existing contract to get you to jump ship. You won't know whether the coverage, speed, and reliability is better than your carrier's until after you switch.

I ran Claude Cowork against ChatGPT Work for a week — one clearly won

Shimul Sood — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:00:12 GMT

I’ve been paying for the Pro versions of both Claude and ChatGPT, and after using them extensively, one question keeps coming back: which one would I actually trust if I gave it a job and let it get on with it? That’s exactly what I wanted to find out with Claude’s Cowork and ChatGPT’s Work. After giving them a fair shot, I came away with a surprisingly clear winner — and, more importantly, I finally know which one I’d spend my money on.

I didn't think an ESP32 could run an LLM — until it did

Yadullah Abidi — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:30:14 GMT

For years now, running an AI model on an ESP32 generally meant a keyword spotter, a vibration classifier, or perhaps a model that decides whether your security camera saw a cat or a raccoon. That's TinyML, and it's genuinely useful, but it's not what you'd expect out of an LLM.

Kindle users can get hundreds of free thriller and horror books this September - here’s what to do

Sara Heritage — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:03:48 GMT

If your reading list needs a darker, more gripping edge for the change in seasons, great news! The next major Stuff Your Kindle Day event is right around the corner, where you can pick up free thriller and horror books for your Kindle.

Changing this display setting is the easiest battery win on Windows laptops

Yadullah Abidi — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:00:12 GMT

High refresh rate screens are pretty common on Windows laptops these days, and for good reason. Whether you're gaming on your laptop or not, a faster panel makes for a significantly better user experience across various tasks. The only catch, however, is that it also makes it difficult for you to get good battery life.

You can 3D-print NASA’s spacecraft at home for free

Yadullah Abidi — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:30:12 GMT

If you own a 3D printer and have ever wanted a scale replica of the Mars rover or an Apollo landing site sitting on your desk, NASA has got you covered. The space agency hosts an enormous, free library of 3D models covering spacecraft, satellites, landing sites, and even celestial objects.